Purpose

The purpose of this directive is to establish policies and procedures for the issuance of timely warning notices for Northeast State Community College community to notify members of the community about serious crimes against people that occur on campus, where it is determined that the incident may pose an ongoing threat to members of the campus community. These warnings will be distributed if the incident is reported either to the Northeast State Police Department or to the Northeast State Police Department indirectly through a campus security authority, or individual citizen, or outside law enforcement.

Policy

The Northeast State Police Department issues/posts timely warnings for the following incidents:

Criminal homicide

Aggravated assault (cases involving assaults among known parties, such as two friends fighting which results in an aggravated injury, will be evaluated to determine if the aggressor(s) is believed to be an on-going threat to the campus community as a whole)

Robbery involving force or violence (cases involving pickpocketing and purse snatching will typically not result in the issuance of a timely warning but will be assessed on a case by case basis)

Sexual Assault (considered on a case by case basis depending on the facts of the case, when and where the incident occurred, when it was reported, and the amount of information known by the Northeast State Police Department)

Major incidents of arson

Other crimes as determined necessary by the chief of Police, or his or her designee in his or her absence

A timely warning will typically include the following, unless issuing any of this information would risk compromising law enforcement efforts:

Date and time or timeframe of the incident

A brief description of the incident

Information that will promote safety and potentially aid in the prevention of similar crimes (crime prevention or safety tips).

Suspect description(s) when deemed appropriate and if there is sufficient detail (see below)

Police/Public Safety contact information

Other information as deemed appropriate by the director or his/her designee

The description of subjects in a case will only be included in the timely warning if there is a sufficient amount of detail to describe an individual.

Victims’ personal identifiable information such as name, address, phone number, etc. will not be in any Timely Warning notice issued to the community.

The Northeast State Police Department in coordination with Information Technology when possible will send a draft and timely warning alerts through the Northeast State Emergency Alert System (NeSCC Alert). Alerts and updates, depending upon the nature of the event, may utilize campus e-mail, the college’s web page, news media, and social media to send notifications and updates.

Timely warnings will be filed in each case file with the corresponding incident number.

The Northeast State Police Department does not issue timely warnings for the above listed crimes if:

The subject is apprehended and the threat of imminent danger for members of the Northeast State Community has been mitigated by apprehension.

If a report was not filed with the Northeast State Police Department or if the Northeast State Police Department was not notified of the crime in a manner that would allow the department to post a timely warning for the community. This type of situation will be evaluated on a case by case basis. The Northeast State Police Department will evaluate any late-filed reports of crime to determine if a timely warning is nonetheless warranted.